Thursday, August 2, 2012

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Boxed Set

Boxed Set
This box set stands as a testament to the diversity and quality of Lynyrd Skynyrd's music. From the spare blues of "Mr. Banker" and "Four Walls of Raiford" to the balladry of "Tuesday's Gone" and "One More Time" to the hard rock of "On the Hunt" and "Saturday Night Special", this set demonstrates that the boys from Florida excelled in a wide variety of musical styles. If you are a casual fan, the hits are all here from "Freebird" to "Sweet Home Alabama". For the Skynyrd enthusiast, Disc 1 is a treasure-trove of very enjoyable demos that makes this box set a must.

I do have a few complaints though. First, the songs have not been remastered for this box set which is rather unfortunate since Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic albums were not graced with great production quality. Second, though I appreciate the live songs on Disc 3, I feel we should have been offered the studio versions of "Gimme Back My Bullets", "Searchin", "Simple Man", and "Whiskey Rock-A-Roller" as well. "Simple Man" in particular is one of Skynyrd's all-time classics and no career retrospective box set should be without the original studio version of this song. Still, there are some great moments in the live songs included here too - who doesn't enjoy it when Ronnie tells the crowd he's gonna "sik an Okie" on them in the intro to "T For Texas"?

If you've ever been a fan of southern rock in general or Lynyrd Skynyrd in particular, you need this box set in your collection. I've had it for 10 years now and continue to derive a great deal of enjoyment from it - I'm quite confident you will too.

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